$8,846

117

Please SHARE our Kickstarter page with friends and family. Whether or not you can contribute financially, sharing this page will be a great help.

Kickstarter is an ALL OR NOTHING platform; we only get money if we reach our goal of $8000. Every dollar and every share helps! And just so you know: whatever you contribute, your credit/debit card does not get charged until our campaign is over on Oct. 5th.

We deeply appreciate your support. Thank you!

THE STORY

If your entire past could be erased in an instant--every regret, every neuroses, every painful memory--would that be a good thing?

The Evans family has never been happy. After a decade of estrangement, it takes the death of Dinah Evans to bring her four children back together. As old tensions threaten to destroy the calm that each sibling has struggled to maintain, salvation presents itself in an unlikely form: a mysterious woman who inspires unwavering devotion enters their lives, offering freedom from all pain.

But as her cult closes in on the siblings, the vacant eyes and plaster smiles of her followers beg the question: is freedom from suffering worth the cost?

WHO AM I?

A self-portrait. You can commission a drawing from me with the $100+ perk (includes all perks under that). OR, if $100 is too much, but you really want a picture, contact me for a drawing at a lower contribution + a certain amount of shares.

I'm Matt Latham. I've been making movies for as long as I can remember; here are some of them:

IT FELT GOOD TO HAVE THIS PAIN (Winner of Best Short Film and Best Cinematography at the 2013 Fresno Film Festival; premiered online at NoBudge.com, a curated site dedicated to independent film)

Actor/Filmmaker Kentucker Audley said of the film:

"There's an astonishing visual flair at work, slow shutter speed rain dances, spectacular lightning storms, ghosts that look like ghosts. It's basically a melodrama, but what makes it really pierce is the documentary realism at turns, as in when the lead (Meredith Jane McCarty) describes being a shy 8 year old and showing her butt to a German exchange student. Anyway, the whole thing freaked me out and maybe it'll freak you out too. Very interesting stuff."

I'M SO SORRY TO HEAR ABOUT HENRY (Played as part of the Short Film Corner at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival, which I was thrilled to be able to attend)

Hopefully these shorts are able to offer a sense of my abilities as a filmmaker. I believe that YOU ARE YOUR BODY / YOU ARE NOT YOUR BODY is the best thing I've done yet.

WHO WAS THAT GUY I KILLED IN THE KICKSTARTER VIDEO?

That was Nick Toti, my co-writer and producer on YOU ARE YOUR BODY / YOU ARE NOT YOUR BODY.

WHY DID I KILL HIM?

Two reasons:

1. He ate the last slice of watermelon, which I really wanted.

2. He expressed doubt about our ability to reach our Kickstarter goal, and I did not like that one bit.

I realize that I could have simply proven him wrong by reaching our goal, but... he ate that last watermelon slice, and I just... snapped.

YOU ARE YOUR BODY / YOU ARE NOT YOUR BODY began in June 2012 when I assembled a team of six actors and a producer to make a movie. We didn't know what that movie was going to be. Over several months we exchanged stories, photos, videos, movie recommendations, jokes, poems, songs, dreams, memories, and anything else they found exciting, arousing, or cinematically stimulating.

From this murky concoction of ideas and influences certain recurring themes and images began bubbling to the surface. Patterns emerged leading to character traits, story events, and a sense of a coherent aesthetic universe. These elements were brought together to write a script. Because we had the cast, the locations, the themes, and the aesthetic of it in mind, I think we were able to create something that felt very lived-in. We wrote toward what was honestly compelling to us.

Production of YOU ARE YOUR BODY / YOU ARE NOT YOUR BODY ran from February through June 2013. We shot in rural Texas, Austin, South Padre Island, and Los Angeles and all production costs were paid for out-of-pocket. Though costs were kept as low as possible, the scope of this production has drained all of our resources. This campaign will raise enough money for us to finish the movie in the best way possible, and will allow us to get the movie out there on a bigger scale.

We aim to be finished with the movie in March 2014.

Our poster, which is one of the available perks for contributing to our campaign.

Risks and challenges

No matter what, this movie is getting finished. It can be finished by myself alone on my computer and submitted to the 4 or 5 festivals we can afford to submit it to; or, with your help, we can get this movie fine-tuned to the most effective version possible (high-quality image grading, a good sound mix!), with better promotion and a better shot at festival play, so that it can be seen on the big screen. You can be absolutely assured that your support will make the movie better and help us get it more widely seen.

We hope you'll consider contributing to our campaign and helping us to finish strong.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $35 or more
About $35

Digital copy of the screenplay, portfolio of images and ideas that served as inspiration in creating YOU ARE YOUR BODY / YOU ARE NOT YOUR BODY (to be distributed along with the digital copy of the movie) + the above perks.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $50 or more
About $50

SPECIAL THANKS credit in the movie (featured on IMDb) and an invitation to a cast and crew screening of the movie in Austin, TX, or a spot on the guest list for any festival screenings + the above perks.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $65 or more
About $65

Invitation to a rough cut screening in Austin, TX, in January 2014. We will have a discussion afterward on how we can make the movie better. (Private Vimeo link of the rough cut can be sent to those living outside of Austin) + the above perks.